By JOSEPH PEDRAJAS
A 25-year-old mother in Navotas City had gone through a complicated situation when she was found positive for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) several days after giving birth to twins through cesarian section.
Judy Ann Sarabia of Barangay North Bay Boulevard North endured not only the pain of wounds due to delivery but also the COVID-19 symptoms she experienced — flu, cough, shortness of breath and loss of taste.
For more than two weeks, she also had to take care of her babies alone. Her family members were not allowed to visit her to lessen the risk of catching or spreading the virus.
“Sobrang hirap talaga, syempre stressed ako eh. Kinabukasan pa lang, gusto na ng pamilya ko na patayuin na ako sa higaan kasi walang mag-aasikaso sakin,” she said.
“Pero di ako pinayagan ng doctor hanggang hindi pa lumalabas na negative ang result ko,” she added.
“Di ako makatulog. Dalawa inaalagan ko. Natakot din ako para sa mga baby, nag-aalala. Pano pag positive sila?” she added.
Sarabia had to keep her twin girls, her first children, in tow. They could not be sent to the nursery.
According to Dra. Christia Padolina, medical director of the Navotas City Hospital (NCH), explained that the babies had to be with their mother to lessen the risk of exposure of other babies as well as to boost Sarabia’s children’s immunity through breastfeeding.
SYMPTOMS
Sarabia had cough and flu when she was rushed to the hospital on April 4 to give birth. However, she was not aware that she was already afflicted with the disease until the result of her swab test, taken on the same day, came out four days later.
Her last travel outside their house was a visit to the OB-Gyne on March 10 and no one in family members was showing COVID-19 symptoms.
Padolina said Sarabia might have caught the virus from her family members, including her husband, a Grab driver, who might have been infected but already recovered without being tested.
But health workers of NCH did not take any risks. During her delivery, they were wearing personal protective equipment (PPEs), so the chance to become infected was low.
“The health care providers always treat them as if they are COVID-19 positive cases. All precautions are taken care of,” Padolina said.
“Before, health workers were only using scrub suits [inside delivery room), but now they are already wearing PPEs.”
Though her COVID-19 test turned positive, Sarabia was allowed to breastfed her twins who tested negative for the virus.
“Based on anecdotal report, so far, there is no transplacental transfer of the virus. There is also no evidence of the virus going into the breast milk, to the baby,” the NCH director explained.
For more than two weeks, Sarabia had confronted the isolation –confined inside a room, no one to talk to — save for the babies and the health workers who occasionally checked on her.
After her positive result came out, all people she had close contact with were obliged to undergo strict home quarantine, which means no one could visit her.
She ate on her own, endured the “pain” of the dextrose as part of COVID-19 treatment, and took care of the babies who depended on her for sustenance.
On April 15, she was tested again. Seven days later, she was finally discharged from the hospital after receiving her result which turned out negative.
“Syempre, tuwang tuwa ako kasi makakauwi na kami. Nakakabaliw sa loob ng kwarto na ‘yun, wala kang kausap eh,” she said after 19 days of confinement. “Worth it naman ‘yung paghihintay.”
As of Sunday, the Navotas City Hospital has already sent off six patients after recovering from COVID-19. Most of them are members of vulnerable groups, including the pregnant women and the elderly.
